A. N. Wilson
My favourite book of 1985 was The Diaries of Auberon Waugh 1976-1985. Not only are they by far the sanest commentary on that gloomy decade. They rise far above the level of journalism into a kind of Dante-like fury with the world. Waugh and Dante have much in common. The Prin- cess of Wales occupies the same sort of role in the Waugh Commedia as Beatrice. Both writers are deeply versed in the works of St Thomas Aquinas. Both feel quite confi- dent about the names of people in Hell. People often ask me which modern edi- tions of Dante I would recommend. Two good modern editions of the Divine Com- edy are those edited by Giuseppe Giaca- lone (Rome, 1968) or Carlo Salinari (Rome, 1980). I have often found myself perusing the Inferno in recent weeks and meditating on the sad fate of the adulter- ers, the sowers of discord and the liars.
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